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Accepted
andrew.46
Asked: 2016-07-13 02:11:51 +0800 CST

Free codecs: How to use FFmpeg to convert my mp4s to ogv under Xenial?

  • 772

I am very attracted to the idea of using completely free codecs. How do I convert my .mp4 files to .ogv using FFmpeg under Xenial Xerus using these free codecs?

I am interested in:

  1. Converting a single mp4 file
  2. Converting a folder with many mp4 files
16.04

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    First install FFmpeg by running the following in a Terminal window:

    sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

    Then change to the same folder as your mp4 file(s) and run either of the following:

    1. For a single mp4 file:

    ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libtheora -qscale:v 6 -c:a libvorbis -qscale:a 5 output.ogv

    Of course change input.mp4 to the actual filename of your input video file!

    2. For many mp4 files:

    mkdir ogv && \
for j in *.mp4
do 
 ffmpeg -i "$j" -c:v libtheora -qscale:v 6 -c:a libvorbis -qscale:a 5 ogv/"${j%.mp4}.ogv"
done

    Options to experiment with:

    • -qscale:v (for video quality) takes integers from 0 - 10 with 0 being lowest quality and 10 the highest quality
    • -qscale:a (for audio quality) takes integers from 0 - 10 with 0 being lowest quality and 10 the highest quality

    And enjoy the feeling of using libtheora and libvorbis, both codecs completely unencumbered and totally free :)

    References:

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